MIC Alumna Beatriz De Urquijo-Isoard on the ‘Walk of Fame’.

June 5, 2015

The ‘Walk of Fame’ is the leading path to the main entrance of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen, the Netherlands. On this path, Hanze UAS alumni, students, or staff who have had outstanding achievements and/or have made remarkable contributions to the society, education or research are eternalized in a form a plaque that is placed onto this path, thus called the ‘Walk of Fame’.

On Thursday, the 21st of May 2015, our MIC alumna Beatriz De Urquijo-Isoard officially became a new addition on the ‘Walk of Fame’ for her achievement in winning the prestigious EUPRERA award for the best master thesis in Communication and PR in 2014. Her thesis Experience Marketing and Destination Branding: A Qualitative Study of Spanish Consumers’ Decision-Making Process and Image Perception of Mexico and its Magical Towns as a Cultural Touristic Destination was praised by the jury due to its significant contribution to the field of nation’s brand building and experience marketing and for its innovative qualitative multi-method approach.

Beatriz is from Mexico and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences and a Master’s degree in Education and Communication before she decided to pursue a master in International communication. The reason she decided to join the MIC is because it allowed her to have an international experience where she will interact with different cultures and live in 2 (foreign) countries. It intrigued her because she has never experienced anything quite like that before. Beside the academic milestones, Beatriz also has various experience in the world of media and entertainment. To mention a few, she has worked in a few TV stations in Mexico as producer and scriptwriter, she also worked as event manager, a freelance researcher in the field of communication, a lecturer at the level of high school and college, and many more.

When Beatriz found out for the first time that her thesis was elected as the best master thesis by the EUPRERA, she was in shock and stated that she would have never thought that her thesis had even the slightest chance of winning and that she was merely just researching and writing about something that she was very passionate about. Earning a plaque on the ‘Walk of Fame’ for this achievement is the icing on the cake. The atmosphere at the ceremony was incredible, everyone was inspired, proud, and in awe of the achievements of our Hanze UAS alumni and staff who won a plaque on the Walk Of Fame. It was truly a memorable event. Of the event, Beatriz repeatedly said that she would love to live it over and over again. She also offered some advice to the MICers and future MICers, which is “if you feel really stressed, keep going! One day you will look back and you will be as impressed as I am right now. That’s what the MIC does to you”.

Today, Beatriz is still living in Groningen and is working as the vice-president in an organization called ‘MexiKans’. MexiKans is an non-profit organization that aims to help develop the more vulnerable Mexican communities. The organization tries to do this by working together with governmental and non-governmental organizations through projects that aim at the economic, societal, environmental and technological developments in the vulnerable Mexican communities. Moreover, MexiKans also works on helping Dutch nationals, who are interested in an unique professional and multicultural experience, in getting the opportunity to work on meaningful development projects in vulnerable Mexican communities.

Beatriz has endless passion for helping ones in need and continues to aim at impacting lives with her knowledge and expertise in the field of international communications. She believes in her heart that cultural sensitivity and awareness is what widens our horizons and that communication is the key to solving many of our problems as well as it is the clue that bond all of us.

MIC continues to be amazed at our students’ accomplishments. This is the second time in two consecutive years that a MIC alumna has earned a spot on the ‘Walk of Fame’. In 2014, Grace Omondi received her plaque for winning the same EUPRERA award in 2013.

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Joint Master International Communication

The Master in International Communication is a three semester full-time programme. You will study at two of our four consortium universities during the first two semesters. You choose which ones and in what order.